Oprah's future in question

Oprah's future in question

Oprah Winfrey's beleaguered network may get just the jolt it needs: a daily dose of Winfrey herself.

The Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture between her Harpo Productions and Discovery Communications, found itself at the center of press reports this week after Web site deadlinehollywooddaily.com reported Winfrey would move her syndicated series to the not-yet-launched cable network when her CBS contract expires in 2011.

The news came nearly a year to the day after Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav suggested the same on a call with analysts. His comments were quickly shot down, and the future home of Winfrey's top-rated talk show has remained among the industry's favorite parlor games ever since. In this case, it was OWN's latest hire, The Oprah Winfrey Show's co-executive producer Lisa Erspamer, that gave many in the press reason to believe the leap was likely.

If it does happen, Winfrey's show would raise the profile and ratings for a network that's been mired by months of behind-the-scenes struggles. After a host of scheduling delays and executive departures, the lifestyle-themed network initially slated to launch in the second half of 2009 has yet to set a premiere date.

Adding Winfrey's chat-fest to OWN's schedule would likely improve the network's (and her own) bottom line as well. Despite its reach–the network counts 75.5 million in its subscriber base, the result of a re-branding of an already established cable service, Discovery Health Channel--it earns only 13 cents per subscriber in its current non-Winfrey form, according to industry consulting firm SNL Kagan.

At the same time, a move to cable would be a blow to CBS' syndication unit, which currently owns the rights to The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as Walt Disney-owned ABC Networks, which owns the collection of stations that air it now.